In a post from August this year on the couple's trek in the snow at Walls Of
Jerusalem National Park in Tasmania, Ms Fairfax wrote of having "taken huge
measures to make myself stronger as he becomes weaker so we can both keep going"
on trails.

"My husband had indicated after last week's successful foray into white wonder
that he felt he was up to a weekend walk to the Walls, so we acted accordingly,"
she wrote.

"However, Parkinson's is a fickle disease: this week you can be fine
(relatively speaking), yet next week, you're distressingly downhill. This
week was not a good week, and he struggled badly.

"The further we penetrated into the white wilderness, the less coordinated he
became. His pace slowed to a virtual halt.

"We have had many sad 'last times' since his illness has taken control of him,
but this is one of the worst, even though it is not unexpected.

The wife of missing bushwalker Bruce Fairfax has posted a heartfelt goodbye and
recalled their last trek together, as friends and colleagues of the former
teacher share their memories of him.

Louise Fairfax, an avid bushwalker, was with 66-year-old Mr Fairfax on the day
he failed to meet up with her after they set out on the 2-kilometre trail to
Duckhole Lake, near Strathblane, in Tasmania's south on Saturday October 14.

On her bushwalking blog, Ms Fairfax posted a photo of a younger Bruce with one
of their daughters, alongside an affectionate message.

"That handsome devil there is the love of my life, the father of my two utterly
fabulous daughters, my soulmate and my best friend," Ms Fairfax wrote.

"Last Saturday, he got lost in the deep Tasmanian rainforest (he had Parkinson's
disease which can cause great confusion) and we have not been able to find him.
It is presumed he fell and couldn't get up before his medicines ran out.

"The police said they'd never seen so many volunteers searching — friends from
our bushwalking clubs, from orienteering and from Church Grammar where he was
deputy head and head of the senior school before retiring due to ill health last
year.

"He loved his family with a great passion — and that includes not only our
direct family members, but all the other 'adopted' ones that became extended
family members along the way.

"He has inspired four decades of students to be better people, and they are
all aching right now. I can't begin to tell you the stature of this giant
that has been felled by Parkinson's."

Ms Fairfax said she had received "hundreds of emails from people telling me was
the best teacher they ever had".

"He believed in people and was always patient, generous and kind. He had the
most beautiful eyes on the planet (sorry all you others). RIP Bruce Fairfax."

On Thursday, Tasmania Police said they were ceasing their ground search efforts,
following advice Mr Fairfax could not have survived given his medical condition
and the length of time he has been missing.

A search of the Duckhole Lake flooded sinkhole by divers will happen in the
coming weeks.

Students celebrate an inspiring teacher

Daniel Muggeridge, a former student of Mr Fairfax at Launceston Grammar, said he
and others had remembered him at a small gathering at the lake to "say a quiet
goodbye".

"We sang Amazing Grace and Dona Nobis Pacem. Gerard Manley Hopkins' poems Pied
Beauty and The Windhover were read to honour a man who inspired many and who
loved his family and his God — and shared generous love to many besides," Mr
Muggeridge posted on Facebook.

"After days of search in warm sun there was a gentle rain that was said to
reflect Bruce's tears as he said his last farewell. More than a few other tears
were shed in response."

Mr Muggeridge praised the efforts of those who scoured the dense bush in efforts
to locate Mr Fairfax.

"The search teams have been amazing, thorough, extensive, committed, and caring.
No trace has been found, making closure really hard for the family. Please join
us in praying for them as they struggle with waves of grief over the coming days
and weeks and months."

"Bruce, you have inspired three decades of learners — even just at
Launceston Grammar. You believed in all of us, and inspired us to be better.
Your contribution to broader community will be felt for years to come. You
are loved and honoured by so many, and we carry a part of you in our hearts.
To say you are generous does not come close. You will be missed."

Former students and relatives joined Mr Muggeridge in fond remembrance of Mr
Fairfax, who was an experienced bushwalker, accompanying his wife Louise on her
many treks in the wilderness.

"Very sad news — he was my favourite teacher, along with many others I suspect.
Will certainly pray for the family, and for some sense of closure and peace for
them," wrote Rosalie Olding.

"Bruce Fairfax made an indelible mark on my mind and spirit in the time he
taught me and in the many years since. He taught me to find peace, grace and
hope in my darkest hours by showing me the beauty and power of words and I will
carry those lessons all my life, and his memory in my heart," Bridget Archer
posted.

"I feel deeply blessed to have known him."

Claire Little said Mr Fairfax had instilled in her a love of the poetry of
English author Gerard Manley Hopkins.

"I have a very batted GMH book of poems that is one of my treasured possessions.
After reading about his retirement I was reminded of what an influence he was to
me," she wrote.

"I will remember you forever as a cheeky man, with such a heart and such a
smile! You inspired us all to be more, to question the unknown and to strive for
the future," posted Amber Botterill.

"It's been a good 15 years since I've seen that smile, but I will remember
it forever. You are a brilliant and loved man."

'Life was about to take him away'

On Saturday, she wrote of the couple's bushwalking trip at Arve Falls the day
before he went missing.

"I was about to do my last ever bushwalk with the man who has been by my side
for 10/13 of my life — a smidgeon more than 3/4s. I was a tiny, insecure
teenager when he met me. I grew up with him beside me, sharing and shaping, but
Life was about to take him away.

"Not knowing the future, we did not walk arm in arm. Instead, we buried
ourselves in our anoraks, shoulders closed in on our chests, but this
strategy provided little defence from the blast that was so noisy we
couldn't hear each other."

Ms Fairfax wrote of scrambling at the lookout to get into a better position for
a photograph "while my mother-hen husband clucked in angst as he watched his
wife climb barriers and perch on ledges".

"He didn't find my antics to be a relaxing or pleasurable spectator sport. He
was very fearful of heights himself, and didn't like me being in danger."

Ms Fairfax also wrote of the accommodation where they spent the night; where she
would again stay over during the search for Mr Fairfax in the following days.

"The incredibly kind lady who greeted us at Driftwood was to later take us under
her wing and offer us a place where we could 'relax' — well, none of that got
done — after dark and before 7:00am as we continued day after day in our
fruitless search for a wandered Bruce, but that is another story

The wife of Bruce Fairfax, who went missing in the Tasmanian bush more than a
week ago, has written of his last day with her and how she went to bed after the
first day of searching "convinced of his death".

Louise Fairfax was bushwalking to Duckhole Lake, a flooded sinkhole about 106
kilometres south-west of Hobart, with 66-year-old Bruce on Saturday, October 14,
when they separated while on the two-kilometre track.

It is believed Mr Fairfax, who has Parkinson's disease, would have been unable
to survive without his medication for more than a week.

Ms Fairfax has detailed her last day with him on her blog, writing that "Bruce
and I have a 'handicap system' [for] when what I am doing is too hard for him,
which happens quite often".

"We go to the same destination, I give him a few suggestions of where he can
walk, and a time to return, and then I do my thing, faster, harder and
further, while he does his. It has always worked in the past."

The pair had set out for several locations over a number of days, planning to
finish at Creekton Falls - Mr Fairfax's favourite spot - the following day.

Ms Fairfax said on that October Saturday, Bruce was "exactly where he wanted to
be: in the wilderness, wild and free like a normal person".

'Cheekiest look' just before he vanished

Ms Fairfax said she had walked about 150 metres ahead of her husband on the path
through dense bush, when she turned around.

"I gave him a resigned little wave and smile and he had the cheekiest look on
his face: 'Yep, I'm coming too, and I'm eating my apple while I walk (also not
allowed)'," she said.

Mr Fairfax, a much admired former senior teacher at Launceston Grammar, "saw
himself as being perfectly capable; just a little slower than some other (overly
fast) people," Ms Fairfax wrote.

"His smile was boyishly defiant. He was not going to submit to a
pusillanimous life of protection. He had not a clue in the world why the
rest of us kept trying to mollycoddle him. It annoyed him, actually."

Ms Fairfax said her husband had been with her "in thick snow in the walls of
Jerusalem" in August and, despite his condition, successfully made it to a
plateau, being one of "only four out of 14" people who did so.

"He loved a grand adventure, and loved being in nature. Today was no different.
The track I was on was really beautiful. Why should he be denied this?" she
said.

"I never saw him again, and we have no idea what happened. We only know that
he wasn't there at our meeting time. I presumed he was either in his dream
world, which can happen, or that he'd somehow managed to wander off the
track."

Fear set in after first day

Ms Fairfax said she called for help about 1:00pm "which gave them time for a
thorough search before nightfall".

"I began to get worried that he'd choked on that apple doing two things at once,
or that he'd fallen and bled to death," she said.

"Police searched every track and road in the area by car and foot, and searched
from the sky using a helicopter that kept going until about 10:30pm. The 'copter
had an infrared warmth detector and stunningly strong lights, but nothing was
found.

"I explored off track in all the places where perhaps someone could go off to
the side, but to no avail.

"I went to bed that night devastated, convinced of his death."

Family touched by kindness of police, volunteers

At 6:00am the next day, Ms Fairfax said she phoned daughter Kirsten "to tell her
I needed her and Lenie (Yelena), both of whom had already offered, to come
down".

Ms Fairfax wrote of being touched by the spirit of volunteers who joined the
search for her husband, which included past Launceston Grammar colleagues of
his, with many having "driven for five hours through the night, many leaving
straight after work the night before, to be there".

"People cancelled work and other commitments, they went without sleep, they
ripped their clothes and their bodies in the bush (one rescuer ended up in
hospital).

"We called, we whistled, we yelled. The whole thing was done with military
precision, and yet with incredible sensitivity to the girls' and my
feelings."

She said her and her daughters were particularly touched by the actions of a
police officer at Duckhole Lake, who would be "directing operations one minute
and putting his arms around me the next".

Operation changed to 'search for deceased person'

"At the end of day three, Kirsten, Lenie and I were called aside to discuss what
should happen the next day," Ms Fairfax said, with expert medical opinion
consulted on "every aspect of how long a man in (Bruce's) condition, with his
weight and height and health, could be expected to live".

"They said that if he hadn't been found by the end of the morrow, and if we
agreed, they would switch the kind of search they were doing to be searching for
a deceased person. By this stage, we also felt that he couldn't be alive by
then."

The family was informed Mr Fairfax "had probably died of hypothermia or a heart
attack," she said.

"These are both incredibly kind ways to go.

"We agreed to one final day of searching and to call it off by the end of day
five."

Ms Fairfax said she believed if the family had insisted the search continue,
police would have done so, praising them as being "incredibly sensitive to our
wants".

"I write this, telling you of an event that still seems like some kind of
story I've read," she said.

"I know that Bruce is gone. It is not that I can't believe the logic or that I
want further searching, but some part of me is still in denial. It is expecting
Bruce to wander in any second with that cheeky smile of his and look triumphant
at fooling everyone for so long.

"He sure did that!"

Daughters' goodbye to 'Dada'

Ms Fairfax went on to describe the impromptu memorial service held at Duckhole
Lake for her husband, where Mr Fairfax's family and others, including those who
had searched for him, gathered to say their goodbyes.

Also present was the family's dog Tessa, which was with the couple on the day he
went missing.

"We exchanged a few funny stories about this man we all loved so dearly,
this gentle, patient, generous giant who has touched so many lives and
taught so many people to fly. Then the boys left us, and we girls had our
own time saying farewell.

"The girls yelled 'bye Dada'; I shared with them the words of the song I had
been singing constantly to him as I searched:

"If I needed you, would you come to me, would you come to me to relieve my
pain? And if you needed me, I would come to you, I would swim the shores to
relieve your pain."

"If Bruce had been lying somewhere, able to hear but not respond, those words
would let him know I was still searching.

"He already knew the extent of my love for him. There was no need for some
'last-minute' declaration."

A memorial
service for Bruce Fairfax is planned for Friday, November 3, at a time and place
yet to be announced.

Bruce Fairfax, a much-admired schoolteacher and avid walker, had waved on his
wife along the trail to Duckhole Lake, a flooded sinkhole about 106 kilometres
south-west of Hobart in October 2017.

His wife Louise would later tell police that her 66-year-old husband would
usually be overtaken by her faster pace due to his Parkinson's Disease, a
condition he steadfastly refused to allow spoil his enjoyment of Tasmania's
wilderness trails.

Ms Fairfax told police at the time she had walked about 150 metres ahead of her
husband on the path through dense bush, when she turned around to see him with
"the cheekiest look on his face".

She would wait for him at their agreed meeting point, a picnic table near the
lake. He would never arrive.

Days of searching involving police and volunteers, many familiar with the couple
and their standing in the bushwalking community, would reveal nothing.

The forest canopy was just too thick for spotters in the air, the terrain simply
impossible to search extensively, despite the use of quad bikes and
four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Later, family and friends of Mr Fairfax would gather near the lake to farewell
him, his daughters calling out a final goodbye into the bush.